Minneapolis/St. Paul – The NBA today named Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love as its Western Conference Player of the Week for games played October 29 – November 3. Love becomes the sixth different Wolves player in club history to be named Player of the Week, earning the award for the first time in his five-year career.

Love has played a pivotal role for the Wolves as they improved to 3-0 for the second time in club history (2001-02), one of just four undefeated teams in the league. In the season opener on Wednesday, Love erupted for 31 points and 17 rebounds, including draining a game-tying three-pointer with 10.1 seconds left to force overtime. Two days later Love was at it again, finishing with 24 points on 7-for-12 shooting and grabbing 12 rebounds before sitting out the fourth quarter of Minnesota’s 100-81 rout of Oklahoma City. He finished his week with a 34-point, 15-rebound performance in New York, his fourth straight 30+ point/15+ rebound performance against the Knicks and 20th of his career as the Wolves closed out a 109-100 win over New York. With the performance, Love joined Shaquille O’Neal as just the second player since 1985-86 to record four straight 30/15 games against one opponent.

This season Love leads the NBA in scoring (29.7 ppg) and ranks second in rebounds (14.7 rpg), free throws made (31) and attempted (39). He’s also tied for first in double-doubles (3), increasing his total to 121 in his last 135 games. After grabbing two offensive rebounds in Sunday’s win in New York, Love extended his streak of consecutive games with an offensive rebound to 78, the longest active streak in the NBA.

Philadelphia’s Michael Carter-Williams was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week.

Following tonight’s game in Cleveland, Minnesota returns home to Target Center this week to host Golden State on Wednesday and Dallas on Friday.